[JStinson]

The queen in this hive is from a split. The mother hive was making swarm preps so I split before they could. The queen was super productive. Very strong layer. One of my own queens, only a year old.

Today I looked at the split and the brood pattern seemed off. She's still laying but the pattern isn't as good.

So, I assume she's on the way out. Either way, here's a picture I took today. I always thought this was more of a sign of a laying worker than of a failing queen. What's the deal here?

 

[drlonzo]

Looks to me like what laying workers leave behind as well. Failing queens normally still deposit the egg in the center of the cell. Were you able to find your queen in this hive, or eggs that were in the bottom of the cells?

 

[JStinson]

Yes, I laid eyes on the queen. She was on the frame that this picture was taken of.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

Poorly mated perhaps? Either the drones were too closely related or there were not enough of them? We had such a funky spring that she may not have had good weather when she needed to mate, so the job didn't get done they way it should have.

Just a thought.

Rusty

 

[beamero]

I had a poorly mated queen that caused me problems in a hive last year. She was present, yet undersized and woudn't lay. All that was being laid was drones, even while she was present in the colony. May have been her, may have been a laying worker.

 

[JStinson]

Poorly mated perhaps? Either the drones were too closely related or there were not enough of them? We had such a funky spring that she may not have had good weather when she needed to mate, so the job didn't get done they way it should have.

I don't know...she was from last year. She wintered well with a large cluster and came out swinging this spring. I think she was my fastest queen to build up...if not she was a close runner up.

I understand that queens fail...it's just what happens. Whether it be from mite treatments or whatever...queens fail. What I'm scratching my head about is her problem with laying on the bottom of the cell.

Could it have actually been a worker? Seems like I've read that a hive has a worker or two that just lay, but the others clean it up before it's a problem.

Thoughts?

 

[drlonzo]

By Michael Bush's accounts there could be up to 70 laying workers in a full size hive under normal circumstances, however the pharamones of the open brood keep the laying workers at bay. So with that as a thought, it may be that the old queen hasn't been fulfilling her duties as of late and there's not been enough open brood to keep the laying workers from trying to take over. I do know that they eggs being laid on the sides of the cells such as the one you showed is associated with laying workers.